Sacrificial Intentions
by Landgren
Summary: Even though a decision seems good at the time, its effects might be disastrous. (reposted, 2nd chapter up.)
1. Know

*I had to repost this story, since something seems to have screwed up when I uploaded it the first time. That means I've lost the reviews. Sorry, you guys. Feel free to submit new ones, though.* Disclaimer:  
Life, the Universe and Everything (C) God.  
  
This is something I thought I'd never do.  
But without further ado, here's...  
  
---  
Sacrificial Intentions   
---  
  
There was a thud as the heavy locks slid open. Then light fell in through the door and illuminated the dark cell. Outlined by the light, standing in the doorway, was a woman in a uniform. She looked down upon the sole occupant of the cell. A young man, sitting on the bunk, leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were closed, and the shadow of a smile lingered at the corner of his mouth.   
  
There was silence for a moment. Then the woman said:  
"Wake up."  
  
The man's only reaction was a smile, the grin of a predator.  
"I am already awake," he said, eyes still closed. "major Katsuragi."  
  
Misato didn't bother to ask how he knew her name. Although the gesture was futile in the darkness of the cell, she narrowed her eyes and glared at him. She instinctively disliked the man, even though she had never seen him before.  
"Who do you work for?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, major, is this an interrogation?" the man asked, mock amusement in his voice. "I thought you would send some Section Two goon for that."  
  
Misato gritted her teeth.  
"Just answer the question."  
  
"Who do I work for?" The mocking tone was still there. "The Yakuza? The UN? The Japanese government? The lost American branch? SELEE? I could work for anyone of those. But maybe..." His eyes snapped open, and Misato found herself staring into strange, brown-green irises. "...I work for no-one but myself." The man grinned his unnerving grin again.   
  
"You kidnapped one of our pilots. Why?"  
  
"What you should ask, major, is why that particular pilot, and why at that particular moment? How is the First Child doing, by the way?"  
  
"The First Child..." Misato almost growled. She knew that the last battle had left Rei with no physical injuries, but other than that, she had no idea. Rei was being kept isolated, the only ones allowed to see her being Ritsuko and a few select doctors. There was talk of mental contamination. "...is doing quite fine. Don't change the subject."  
  
"I think you're lying to me, major. How did you defeat the Angel? Did the commander lift the freeze on Unit 01? Had Shinji bring out the lance? Hm?"  
  
Misato blinked in surprise. Yes, that was exactly what had happened. With Asuka gone, Rei had been sent out alone to deal with the Angel in long-range combat. Unit 01 was to be kept in stasis. But as the Angel had engaged its mental assault of Unit 00 and its pilot, commander Ikari had suddenly removed the lockdown and sent a half-panicked Shinji to retrieve something called the Lance of Longius. The strange weapon had managed to kill the Angel. But how did this man know?  
"Answer the question." she said, trying to hide her shock.  
  
"I'll answer your question with one of my own." the man said, smiling in a way that sent chills down the major's back. "What if you could have Rei and Asuka switch places? Have Rei in debriefing, and Asuka down in the mental ward? Make Asuka the target of the Angel's attack? Would you do it? Have Rei back to normal, but Asuka turned into a sobbing wreck?"   
  
"I..." Misato started, but the man went on.  
  
"Which one of them is worth the most to you, major? Which one would you have sacrificed?"  
  
"Shut up!" the major snapped. "Asuka would have been assigned backup! She would have been outside the Angel's attack range! It's..!" Misato caught a hold of herself. She had wanted to say _'It's your fault she wasn't there to save Rei!'_ But she couldn't afford to get emotional right now. This man was intentionally trying to get her angry. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she instead said: "It's an irrelevant speculation."  
  
"Is it?" Suddenly the man was on his feet and standing way to close for comfort. "She _should_ have been assigned backup. But _would_ she have been?" he hissed into her ear. "Her synch ratio has been dropping. Shinji is constantly outperforming her. What if she needed to prove herself?"  
  
"Back off!" Misato hissed back, her pistol poking into the man's ribs. He seemed to ignore her, though.  
  
"What if she had gone out there, taking point? You know her past, could she have handled what the Angel would have shown her? Could you have comforted her afterwards?"  
  
Misato had heard enough. She punched the man in the stomach. As he stumbled backwards she kicked him hard enough to send him reeling across the room. He hit the wall and slumped to the floor.  
  
"You think you did Asuka a favour by kidnapping her?!" she shouted, having finally lost her temper.  
  
"I don't think." the man whispered, the predatory grin still on his face. "I know."  
  
"You know?" Misato snarled. She stared at the man for a second, then spun around, intent on leaving. "You know nothing."  
  
"I know what Kaji died for."  
  
Misato froze in the doorway.  
  
"I know how the world ends." There was dark glee in the man's voice. "I know how you die, major."  
  
Misato stepped out, slammed the door shut, and walked away with quick steps. She wasn't running from him. She _wasn't_ running from him. But she couldn't shake the feeling that she had just had a conversation with Hannibal Lecter. No, this was absurd. He didn't know anything. He was just putting on a show, making guesses from rumours he had heard. He was just a psycho who had taken advantage of a temporary lapse in security, and managed to kidnap a pilot. Nothing more.  
  
She tried to ignore the fact that he had never made any demands, or that he had released Asuka the minute the Angel attack was over.  
  
The entire idea was absurd. Asuka would never have been a target for the Angel anyway.   
  
Would she?  
  
---  
  
Author's notes:  
Well, there it is. I never thought I'd do an SI, but this scene just popped into my head, and I couldn't chase it away. Ever since I saw the series, I've had this feeling that the last episodes wouldn't be half as depressing if you could just spare Asuka from the 15th Angel (Not that the depressing part is necessarily bad, mind you), and if I was given the opportunity to change one single thing that would make life better for the main characters, that would be it.   
But as I wrote this, I started thinking about the implications of actually doing something like that. How would it change the series? Would it really get any brighter? If Rei was the target of the mental assault instead, how would that affect her? It might very well have changed the entire Third Impact into something altogether more disturbing.  
  
Oh, well. Speculations, speculations...  
  
And, yes, that Hannibal Lecter character is my Mary Sue >:)  
  
-F   
  
  
  



	2. Not supposed to be here I

  
Earlier.  
  
---  
  
Asuka slowly opened her eyes. She could see a worn ceiling, and hear the constant beating of falling rain. She was feeling groggy. Asuka's hand moved to her neck, were she could feel a tiny, sore mark. What was that? She must have been hit by some kind of dart. As recollection hit her, she gasped and heaved herself into a sitting position, staring around wildly.   
  
A car, pulling up next to her as she walks down the street. The driver-side window is rolled down, and a man looks out at her. She stops, thinking he wants to ask her directions or something. Then, he pulls out a pistol and fires. She instinctively recoils, but too slow. Pain shoots through her neck. The last thing she remembers is the asphalt coming up towards her.  
  
Asuka found herself on a mattress in an otherwise empty room. The man from the car was standing at the single window, looking out at the rain. In his hands was an assault rifle.   
  
"Good morning." he said, not bothering to turn around.  
  
Asuka sat still as a statue, watching him intently for a while. As he kept staring through the window, she got up from the mattress. She stood, still watching him, waiting for something to happen. As it didn't, she quickly went over to the door, and pulled the handle.  
It was locked.  
  
Hearing movement behind her, Asuka turned to face the man again. His back was still turned, but his left hand held up a key as if taunting her. Her face darkened, but she said nothing. Then she sat back down on the mattress, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting the man dark looks.  
  
Silence reigned between them for minutes that seemed to drag into infinity. Except for the man shifting position and leaning against the windowsill, nothing happened. The only thing to be heard was the constant beating of the rain. It was literally pouring down outside.  
  
Finally, Asuka had had quite enough of the man and his 'mysterious silence'-act.  
"Could you tell me," she said in a quiet tone, and then suddenly raised her voice to a shout, "just _what the hell_ that is going on?!"  
  
For the first time, the man turned his head to look at her. His eyes had a strange green-brownish colour. There seemed to be no emotions whatsoever in his face, but then he suddenly smiled a lopsided grin at Asuka. It did nothing to put her at ease, though.  
  
"Don't worry." he said. "If things work out, you'll be out of here in a short while. Nothing hurt but your pride."  
  
There were several ways to interpret those words, few of them good, but Asuka pushed any worst-case scenarios out of her head for the time being. Better to be irritated than worried.  
  
"So," she said, sarcasm in her voice, "you just like to lock young women into small rooms for a few hours?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Asuka stared at the man's back, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. "And then what?" she asked.  
  
"Then what?" He glanced at her, then back at the view outside. "Then I wait for the Angel to get killed. Your fellow pilots are being quite slow about it."  
  
"Angel?" Asuka's eyes widened. "There's an Angel? Now?"  
  
"Yes. You slept through the alarm."  
  
Asuka couldn't believe she was hearing this.  
"And you got me locked up in here, you bastard?!" she shouted. This wasn't fair! "I'm supposed to be out there, fighting! Why did you do this?! Why now, you creep?!"  
  
The man didn't answer. Frustrated, Asuka leaned back against the wall, glaring angrily at him. One of her last chances to prove herself, to show them who was the real Eva pilot. And here she was, locked up in a room with an armed nutcase.  
"You know," she growled "if anyone gets hurt because I'm not out there piloting, I'm holding you responsible." She paused, and then added: "Even if it's only stupid Shinji."  
  
"Shinji won't get hurt." the man said. Asuka clearly heard the unspoken 'but...' at the end.  
  
The silence between them resumed, Asuka fuming in silence and the man obviously not in a talkative mood. This went on for a while. Then, suddenly the man said:  
"I think you want to see this."   
  
"What?" Asuka snapped.  
  
"Wondergirl is about to take a beating."  
  
This caught Asuka's attention. Wondergirl was her nickname for Ayanami. No-one else used it. It sounded _wrong_ when someone else used it. Suspicious, she got up and walked over to the window, careful not to get too close to the weird man.  
  
Outside, even through the rain, the blue form of Unit 00 was clearly visible. It was maybe a kilometre or two away from them, but because most of the buildings had been retracted into the Geofront, there was little to obscure the view.   
  
The Eva was standing all alone, aiming towards the sky with a large rifle. The Angel was nowhere to be seen, but neither was Unit 01. Asuka suddenly realised that it was probably still in stasis. Which meant that Ayanami was on her own out there. And the girl had the lowest synch ratio of them all.  
  
The seconds ticked by, and nothing seemed to happen. Then Unit 00 pulled the trigger, sending a volley of shots skyward. The blue Eva started to realign its massive weapon when suddenly a bright beam of light shot down from above.  
The Eva staggered, as if coming under a great weight. It struggled to get the rifle to bear on its invisible enemy, but the weapon fell to the ground as the Eva's hands seemed to cramp up. Unit 00 took a trembling step backwards, one hand pressed against the side of its head and the other held up as if to hold the assailant back.  
  
Asuka stared in horror. There was nothing there! Just a bright light. And yet Ayanami seemed to be hurt. Sure, Asuka didn't like Ayanami much, but whatever happened out there must have been painful beyond comparison. As she watched, the Eva doubled over, clutching its head with shaking hands. She felt horrible, only being able to stand here and do nothing.   
  
"What's happening?" Asuka whispered.  
  
"For a lack of a better term, she's being mind-raped."  
  
She looked up at the man. Then she quickly turned back to the Eva, which was writhing in pain. It was a horrible sight, but not as horrible as the calm expression on the man's face, the ghost of a smile on his lips.  
  
_She's being mind-raped._ Asuka shuddered, and turned away from the window. _Mind-raped._ The words echoed in her head, and she tasted bile in her mouth. In the darkest corner of her soul, Asuka was glad that it was Ayanami, and not her, out there.  
  
And she hated herself for it.  
  
---  
  
Asuka didn't know how long it lasted. After a while, the man simply handed her the key. She snatched it out of his grip and left as quickly as she could.   
  
It wasn't long until she was picked up by a number of Section Two agents. From what she could discern of their frantic rambling over the com-net, they were in the process of capturing the unknown man who had kidnapped her.   
  
She hoped he would put up a fight, so that they had an excuse to hurt him. Badly.  
  
---  
  
Author's notes:  
Well, here's another chapter. My first intentions were actually to only make this a one-shot. But then this "thought-experiment" started to have a life of its own. There's going to be a third chapter around sometime soon.  
  
Oh, and if it isn't already apparent, my SI won't, under any circumstances, be the good guy of this fic. Rather the opposite. And, no, no superpowers. That thing about Mary Sue was just a figure of speech.  
  
-F   
  
  
  



End file.
